News Articles

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is accepting comments through 5 pm on Friday, Aug. 7 on an application from Cory Hatfield for Clean Water Act permitting of discharges of construction-related stormwater pollution from Hatfield Estates, located at Van Duyn and Coburg Bottom Loop in Coburg. Visit goo.gl/Yp4iAK for info on commenting.

How can Eugene retain the talented young professionals graduating from the University of Oregon instead of losing them to Seattle or San Francisco? That’s the question of the night at an upcoming TAD Talk in August, where speakers have five minutes to sell their idea.

Need a job? New Register-Guard Editor and Publisher N. Christian Anderson appears to be taking his time hiring a new administrative team. The R-G is still running ads for a chief financial officer and an executive assistant. Competitive compensation is promised but if you accept a job offer you will need to whiz in a cup. We assume Anderson had to do the same when he was hired. Let’s not think about that too much.

• Hiroshima/Nagasaki commemoration events continue this week. An annual gathering calling for action “to help ensure that nuclear weapons are never used again” will be from 6:30 pm until dusk Thursday, Aug. 6, near the Alton Baker duck pond. The free event begins with a pot luck and will include speakers, drumming by Eugene Taiko, traditional Japanese Obon dancing and music by the Yujin Gakuen Children’s Peace Choir. Call CALC at 485-1755.

When a ship from Royal Dutch Shell oil companysailed into Portland the morning of July 25 to repair damages sustained while breaking ice in the Aleutian Islands, environmental activists with the #sHellNo movement were there to greet it.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is accepting comments through 5 pm Tuesday, Aug. 4 on an application from Hayden Homes for Clean Water Act permitting of discharges of construction-related stormwater pollution from Phase 1 of Rolling Meadows, a 39-lot residential development located at 10th Avenue and Oklea Drive in Junction City. Visit goo.gl/Yp4iAK for info on commenting.

Americans tend to have our heads in the sand when it comes to climate change, but we are not alone in the world. Even in Norway, where snows are coming two months later, and where there is no organized and well-funded disinformation campaign, most Norwegians just shrug and go about their business. What’s going on?

The Barn Light will be opening its second location in early August. The site is on the ground level of the new Northwest Community Credit Union building at 545 E. 8th Ave. near the U.S. Courthouse. The new café, lounge and banquet room will occupy 1,600 square feet of space. Designer is Leah Fuller of GMA Architects who also designed the downtown Barn Light. Décor is sourced from local shops and includes up-cycled materials and reclaimed wood. The new Barn Light will be open all days but Sunday. See thebarnlightbar.com.

If you hadn’t heard about the Cascadia Subduction Zone mega earthquake before now, the recent New Yorker article titled “The Really Big One” has probably popped up on your social media feed enough times to draw your attention.

Some people have known for decades about the predicted 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami threatening to devastate the Oregon Coast and beyond.

A fenced-in parking lot complete with stripes on the gravel has appeared at the site of the leveled City Hall downtown, leading passers-by to wonder what’s going on. Turns out the parking will not be for the public or even the architects and engineers working on plans for the new City Hall.

“We had a request from the Federal Courthouse to accommodate overflow parking for jurors for two weeks,” says city spokesperson Laura Hammond. City Code 9.5800 “allows up to two weeks of temporary parking three times per year,” she says.

“Business has been booming,” says Jody Maddox, who owns Wags Dog Emporium off Coburg Road. This is no surprise, based on the $58.51 billion the American Pet Products Association (APPA) estimates Americans spent on their pets in 2014.

Oregon happens to be near the top of the list for pet-owning states and ranks fourth overall, according to the American Veterinary Medical Foundation’s 2012 survey numbers, and those high ownership numbers seems to have translated to good business for pet-related industries operating in Eugene and Oregon in general.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is accepting comments through 5 pm Tuesday, July 28, on two proposed Clean Water Act permit modifications for Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products and Cascade Pacific Pulp, which both discharge pollution to the Willamette River via the same outfall near Halsey. The proposed modifications involve the relocation of the outfall approximately 1,300 feet downstream, and a decrease in the size of the “mixing zone” for the discharges.

Many Eugene downtown businesses will be open for the first Sunday Streets celebration from noon to 4 pm July 26. Streets will be blocked off from car traffic from the Park Blocks to Kesey Square and all the way down Broadway to Monroe Park. Participants can enjoy a relaxing bike ride, skate or stroll through a cornucopia of food, music, fitness classes and bike demos.

• The NAACP national convention was earlier in July, and City Club of Eugene will have a report at noon Friday, July 24, at the Downtown Athletic Club, 999 Willamette Street. Speakers will include Eric Richardson, president of the local NAACP, and members of the Eugene-Springfield faith and social justice communities. $5 for non-members.

• Eugene 350’s Summer Meetup will be from 7 to 8:30 pm Thursday, July 16, at First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive Street. On the agenda is campaign organizing and arts projects, including giant banners and “Puppets for Climate Change.” Actions are being planned leading up to the U.N. climate talks in Paris. Email 350eugene@riseup.net or call 343-5091.

As fire season heats up in Oregon and across the West, debates over logging and forestry are staying hot in Congress. The House just passed HR 2647, the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015, and Congressman Peter DeFazio is one of the Democrats who voted in favor of the bill.

If Jacob Burris, an eighth grader at Shasta Middle School, and his parents hadn’t followed up on a high blood pressure reading at a routine checkup, doctors may never have detected the life-threatening heart condition that sent the 13-year-old to OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland last year.

Now, because of his time at Doernbecher, Jacob is designing his own shoe at Nike as part of a fundraiser for the children’s hospital.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is accepting comments through 5 pm on Tuesday, July 21, on the proposed “biosolids” management plan for Premier RV Resorts. (“Biosolids” is a term for treated sewage sludge.) Premier RV Resorts is located near Coburg, southeast of exit 199 on I-5. The plan includes requirements for spreading biosolids on farm land south of the RV resort. Visit goo.gl/ott3SM for more information on commenting.

The Veterans Safe Spot, one of three “rest stops” managed by Community Supported Shelters (CSS), is moving from its current location at Chambers and Northwest Expressway to a 7.5-acre Eugene Mission property off West 1st Avenue. Ron Siever, a veteran at the safe spot, says he and other veterans are concerned about the new rules required to move onto Mission property, which include total sobriety, abstinence from drugs and no pets.